Review of Film Works 1990 - 2005 Album by Craig Armstrong

Craig Armstrong has certainly been busy since 1990, not only composing scores for films as diverse as Romeo and Juliet (1996), Plunkett and Macleane (1999), Love Actually (2003) and most recently Ray (2004), but also producing solo work with the likes of Bono, Madonna, Evan Dando and Mogwai, as well as continuing to compose and perform classically on a regular basis. Like Moby before him, Armstrong's work has appeared on most car adverts and bizarrely always seems to crop up on documentaries about inner city crime, but this should not put anyone with half an ear off. If you have heard any of his solo stuff (such as The Space Between Us or As If To Nothing) you will know that his talents stretch way beyond writing film scores, and his unique brand of melodramatic ballads and emotional easy listening stops nothing short of genius.

In this new offering, Armstrong presents us with the best bits of the film scores from the last decade or so, and each one has the potential to charm, overwhelm and torment the emotional fabric of one's mind. From the initial melodrama of O Verona from 'Romeo and Juliet' to the quiet trepidation of Rise from 'The Negotiator' to the gut wrenching bittersweetness of This Love from 'Cruel Intentions', each piece on this collection is as wonderful now as when it invaded your consciousness as you sat in the theatre. Whether you have seen the films or not it is not possible to listen to this album and not have some sort of varied emotional response and complete astonishment at the unique and distinctive vision of this talented man. I was yet again blown away. Very highly recommended.